It’s official. Making Malbec in amphoras is in fashion. Silvio Alberto, winemaker at Bodegas Bianchi in the Uco Valley, explains why he has been gradually moving towards using amphoras (or amphorae) for his top Malbec wines and red blends, and why he believes they better express the terroir.
In this interview, Amanda Barnes asks him all about the properties of amphora wines and how it changes the expression of the Malbec.
Bodegas Bianchi experiment with amphoras in their winery in Uco Valley
Video highlights: Amanda Barnes interviews Silvio Alberto at Bodegas Bianchi
Silvio, we are here with Bianchi’s new amphoras. Can you tell me why you decided to experiment with amphoras and how it is different from keeping the wine in barrels?
Our idea is to innovate and I think with this amphora we changed a bit the style of our wines. Our idea is to make a wine with terroir expression and I think this is the perfect system because the wine here has approximately four or five months and when you taste the wine you can find lots of fruity and earthy notes, which is very typical of our terroir.
For this reason, we are very happy with this technology and next vintage we will probably increase the number of amphoras because we like the style of wine.
Right now, we are tasting the wine every month to analyze its evolution of the wine because this is the first time we are working with amphoras. So far, the evolution has been very good.
This is your Malbec from Los Chacayes and what’s very interesting is you get the tannins from the fruit but that really fresh fruit expression and the wild herbs, and it is very approachable even though it’s only 6 months old. I’m very excited about the amphoras and can’t wait to find out more…
We will find out more in our next vintage!
Read more about Bodegas Bianchi in our winery guide online!
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